Ch. Fifteen

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Jodie's POV

For a while, I just sat there with Katie in silence. She fiddled with the hem of her shirt, and I kicked at the dirt under me. No words were exchanged for a few minutes, but to be honest it was a nice quiet. Suddenly, she spoke.

"Wanna climb?"

"C-climb?"

"Yeah, climb. Trees and such." She turned and poimted at a tree, then turned back around and smiled. I slowly nodded, and her grin widened. "Cool!" She got up and ran over to a tree, gripping onto a branch and heaving herself up, wrapping her legs around a higher branch and then throwing her arms up to reach the next branch. I sat still, watching in amazement as she threw herself effortlessly further up the tree.

It took her mere minutes to reach the top of the tree, and sit on the highest branch, her arm gripping onto the tree so she doesn't fall off.

"Your turn." She yelled down, pointing to a tree opposite the one she was on. It wasn't as tall as the one she climbed but the height still intimidated me slightly. But I got up slowly anyway and inched closer and closer to the tree. I could feel my palm getting sweaty, so I nervously wiped them on my shirt. Reaching up, I held onto a thick branch and tried to pull myself up. But I was too weak, so I tried a different approach. Instead, I wrapped both arms around the branch and swung myself up until I was sat on it, my legs either side.

"There's a branch to your left, stand on it!" Katie advised, so I did as she said. It wasn't going as bad as I thought it would, actually. "Now jump up."

I hunched down, and leaped from where I was standing my fingers spreading so I could grip onto the next branch. But I didn't take into consideration my height, and ended up not reaching. I screwed my eyes tight as everything seemed to go in slow motion. I could hear Katie gasp from where she was, and slowly, I felt myself being thrown down.

My hair flew up, as my body was flung down, hitting each branch I had just climbed and throwing me in a different direction, my eyes never once opening. For one second, I really thought I was going to die.

Suddenly, a hand was placed on my forehead and then taken off, and I could feel myself being pulled up.

"Oh my days, are you okay?" Katie breathed, as I slowly forced my eyes open. "That was a nasty fall."

I looked down to inspect my injuries and foumd that my knees were both scratched, the skin hanging off loosely. My entire arm was also bleeding, the main source being just under the elbow. My head felt light and everything seemed to spin, so I layed my head back down and closed my eyes. At the time, I didn't know I wouldn't open them again for a while.

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"Hun?" I could hear a blurry voice above me, and felt two hands on both of my shoulders, lightly shaking me.

Katie.

I opened my eyes and flinched, feeling a cold substance on my forehead.

"It's okay, it's an ice pack. I ran home to get it." She smiled, reading my mind. I knew I wouldn't be able to speak, so instead I just nodded and smiled, looking up at the sky. It was dark. Not very dark, but around 6pm dark. I groaned and sat up, causing my head to spin again. "You probably shouldn't move..."

I looked up to see that Katie had now pulled her hair up into a ponytail out of her face and wore tights and shoes, unlike before. Now that her hair was out of her face, I could see a large scar going right down the side of her face. I'm guessing she knew how to handle these types of situations, then...

"What time is it?" I croaked, my voice feeling raw, even more so than before, and painful.

She shrugged. "Last time I checked it was half five but that was an hour ago, I think." So around about half six... once again, I nodded.

"How bad are the injuries?" I'm not sure if I want to know the answer, but I couldn't help but ask. Katie cringed and without having to speak, I knew the answer.

Very bad.

I rolled closer to the log I was previously sat on and tried to pull myself up, my hands failing to grip on tightly enough to hold my body weight. Instantly, I felt a sharp pain shoot through my left leg, causing me to shreik and drop to the ground again. Katie hurried to my side and held me up, wrapping her arms around mine and heaving me up. She sat me down on the log and handed me her water bottle for the second time today. As much as I knew a drink would help right now, I felt as though I wouldn't be able to keep it down; I shook my head.

"Thanks though."

"Is your head okay? You bumped it pretty bad on the last branch." She nodded her head towards the poisonous, toxic tree. God, I hated that tree. I shrugged, sighing loudly. It hurt. Even breathing hurt, but it's not like I have much choice. I'm pretty sure I'd rather breathe and have it hurt a little than just... not breath at all.

So I breathed. Slowly. And loudly.

"My head's fine."

She smiled and pulled a familiar looking phone out of her pocket. My phone. She handed it to me, sheepishly grinning.

"The only thing on your person you managed not to damage." She stated.

"Oh." I tried to laugh but it just wasn't happening. It's like my politeness and sense of humor just wasn't feeling it today. That's okay, though, I did just fall out of a tree.

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Late night update asf.

1000 words, exactly. Just thought I'd let ya know...

Q: Ever had a near death experience?
A: Nahhhhhh, but I've heard it's pretty cool.

Bub byeeeeeee
Xoxox

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